Diverse Groups Come Together With Team Spirit

June 12, 1985|By Catherine Collins.

Although the people of south suburban Hazel Crest and Country Club Hills are a diverse group, economically, socially and racially, you will find much of the town at the ballpark on a summer`s evening with their kids.

``We`re really into our kids here,`` said Dwight Welch, president of Welch Construction Co. and the Country Club Hills Chamber of Commerce.

``In Country Club Hills and Hazel Crest, the housing ranges from very inexpensive to expensive and the people from blue collar to white collar. They are very diverse communities. But they are homogeneous in the respect that the people in the different groups end up down in the ballpark, working together.

``You see a team spirit here.``

And that team spirit isn`t just among Hazel Crest`s and Country Club Hills` parents, but also can be found in the cooperative spirit between the two towns and in the south suburbs as a whole.

Although each town does its own promotion, it is the general feeling that the fate of each of the southern suburbs is tied into the fate of the whole region.

``We all rise and fall together. As one community succeeds, so does the adjacent one. There are no more islands. There`s outstanding intergovernmental cooperation between these two communities and the rest,`` said Alvin L. Wagner Jr., president of A.L. Wagner Co., a real estate consultant company in Flossmoor, and also president of the South Suburban Focus Council, a civic organization devoted to improving the image of 37 south suburbs.

``You try to sell the entire region, as opposed to town by town. We just aren`t that big,`` said Nicholas Narducci, Hazel Crest`s assistant village manager.

Neither Hazel Crest nor Country Club Hills is content to nor can afford to be just quiet bedroom communities any longer. Like most suburbs, they are finding that the demands on municipal services are exceeding tax revenues.

``The major issue that is confronting both Hazel Crest and Country Club Hills is the continued viability of the communities, in terms of continued economic development, population growth and racial diversity,`` said Joe Martin, community relations director for both.

In addition to small commercial centers, mostly in the old downtown area in Hazel Crest and in strip malls in Country Club Hills, both towns are pursuing office and industrial development.

Hazel Crest has about 100 open acres at the corner of 167th Street and Kedzie Avenue, which it is trying to fill with light industrial development. Country Club Hills has 500 acres on its north side, which was chosen from among 100 communities by Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago for its Midwest Operation Center, $250 million planned unit development. The Continental Bank project was postponed indefinitely after the financial institution`s problems last year.

Proponents of these towns adhere to the domino theory of development and are sure that the long-awaited growth spurt will come once their education and promotion program takes hold. The south suburbs offer everything the west and northwest suburbs offer, for less, they claim.

``They have a number of attributes that are being quickly diminished elsewhere, such as open space, availability of open space for development close to interstate highways and rail transportation and the availability of an extensive labor pool,`` Martin said.

``In part, these communities` potential for development is great because they are currently underutilized.``

Population predictions by the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission support the hopeful plans for growth in both towns. Hazel Crest`s 1980 population is expected to increase from 13,973 to 20,470 by the year 2005. Country Club Hills` population is expected to grow from 14,676 to 18,472 in the same time period.

``They are in an area that is expected to be a growth area,`` said Max Dieber, NIPC research director. ``That whole southwest area lagged behind the northwest in growth, and its time has come. It`s their turn. They are in pretty favorable locations.``

Both towns have a variety of housing, from multifamily to single family, new and old. Although the median value of single-family homes in Hazel Crest was $56,000 and $61,700 in Country Club Hills, according to the 1980 census the range is closer to $45,000 to $150,000.

As they mature, Hazel Crest and Country Club Hills are moving in different directions governmentally. Although Hazel Crest is a village, using using professional management personnel, Country Club Hills still relies on the volunteer tradition that gave it its start with a aldermanic city government.

Visitors driving into Country Club Hills are greeted by a sign saying,

``the people of Country Club Hills welcome you.`` With a bit of friendly competition, Hazel Crest touts itself as ``a good place to live.``